Care home worker repeatedly sexually assaulted vulnerable resident

A care worker has been found guilty of repeatedly sexually assaulting a vulnerable woman with a brain disorder at a residential home, causing her “profound suffering”.

Robert Wilson kissed Yvonne Carnie and touched her without consent while she was living at The Abbey in North Berwick.

Ms Carnie, then 68, was receiving round-the-clock care at the East Lothian Council-run home for progressive supranuclear palsy, a type of brain disorder which impacts mobility.

It was there Wilson, of Dunbar, carried out the “heinous” sex attacks on his victim between August 2022 and February 2023.

The 53-year-old denied sexually assaulting Ms Carnie and other charges during a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.

But on Wednesday, he was found guilty of sexually assaulting her. He was found not guilty of raping her on various occasions during that period.

Wilson was also found guilty of raping a younger woman between January 1 and March 5 in 2013 at an address in Tranent, in East Lothian.

‘The bad man’

During the trial, jurors were shown footage of specially trained police officers interviewing Ms Carnie, who has since died.

She said she knew they were going to talk about “the bad man”, who she called Robert.

The woman told how she was attacked and she told him to stop it, but he carried on. She said: “It made me feel dirty.”

Wilson told the court that he knew it would be wrong for him as a carer to have sex with a resident at the home, adding: “But that never happened.”

Judge Lady Hood said the sexual assault of the care home resident was “particularly bad” because of the situation she was in.

She told Wilson: “She was somebody for whom you were supposed to care and that is something that means that what you have done is a bad thing indeed.

“You must understand these are things I have to take extremely seriously.”

‘Our mum endured profound suffering’

In a statement issued via law firm Digby Brown, Ms Carnie’s family said: “While this verdict brings some closure, it can never undo the profound suffering our mother endured.

“She was a beautiful, kind, and caring woman who deserved to feel protected. Instead, she was stripped of her basic decency and her voice.

“We can at least take solace in knowing that we have honoured our mother’s memory by ensuring that the perpetrator of these heinous crimes will never be able to inflict them on any person again.

“The pain of watching our otherwise sociable and happy mum struggle to cope, and the lack of support offered by the organisation responsible for her care, has left us all with a deep sense of anger and injustice.

“Sadly, our mother did not live to see justice prevail and she passed away without ever truly feeling safe again. We want this verdict to highlight a systemic failure to protect the most vulnerable.”

Sentencing

The judge deferred sentencing for the preparation of a background report on him and he was remanded in custody.

He was placed on the sex offenders’ register, and his conviction will be reported to Scottish Ministers under protection of vulnerable groups legislation.

East Lothian Council has been contacted for comment.